Seawater desalination in Australia

As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought, state governments began building desalination plants that purify seawater using reverse osmosis technology.

Many plants are utilizing nearby wind or wave farms to use renewable energy and reduce operating costs, and solar powered desalination units are used for remote communities.

The reverse osmosis solar installation (ROSI) uses membrane filtration to provide a reliable and clean drinking water stream from sources such as brackish groundwater.

Solar energy overcomes the usually high-energy operating costs as well as greenhouse emissions of conventional reverse osmosis systems.

This system uses submerged buoys to pressurize water offshore, which is piped onshore to either drive turbines for electricity generation or as in this case, to directly desalinate seawater.

In 2005 a PV-powered hybrid UF/RO filtration system providing 764 liters per day tolerated well power variation from changing weather conditions.

The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant (PSDP) was installed in late 2006 to produce up to 45 gigalitres of potable water per year.

The plant buys its power from electricity generated by the Emu Downs Wind Farm, located 200 kilometers north of Perth.